Watch Chuck Patterson Drop into Jaws - on Skis!

"I don't want this to be looked at like a circus act" Pic: Tracy Kraft Leboe
He's at it again, Chuck Patterson has broken out the bright yellow ski's once more and taken on the biggest waves yet: El Nino sized Jaws on Maui. It's not the first time; Chuck's been dropping in to monsters on skis since back in 2012.

The pro skier, turned stand up paddle boarder and big wave surfer just can't get that feeling out of his system. Perhaps is the riding direction (facing straight instead of sideways), maybe it's the freedom of having two separate skis to control, or possibly, he might just like the challenge. Either way, Skiiing Jaws this big takes some serious skills, and specialized gear.

Those aren't just your average water skis. Chuck had these specially designed for surfing back in 2012 after trying it out on a pair of normal skis. With typical water skis, they're really flat and efficient to allow higher speeds on super flat water; when surfing with them, they're too fast and go shooting way out in front of the wave face! Chuck's skis, now showing visible signs of big-wave abuse with epoxy repairs and flaking paint, are designed exclusively for surfing, with more rocker, volume and actual snowboarding bindings for extra stiffness (and therefore control).

Chuck is serious about these things though, he really thinks that his specialized surfing skis are something special, "I don't want this to be looked at like a circus act" Explains Chuck, "Ever since I started (surf skiing), I was hooked like a little kid, just like I was when I started snow skiing so there's something there which really keeps me going."

Will Ski surfing catch on just like stand up paddling did back in the late noughties? Watch the footage of Chuck Patterson dropping in to jaws on his skis and decide for yourself…

;ebc